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After seeing the previews, I had already been convinced that I wanted to see This Means War - romantic comedy spy movie - right up my alley. My hubby wasn't similarly convinced.

After getting tickets to an advance screening, we both went - and ended up pleasantly surprised. This Means War was funny, really funny - Chelsea Handler was the hidden gem of the movie.

The movie never took itself too seriously, which was refreshing - it had a few heartfelt moments, but nothing too sappy. It stayed on the side of comedy over romance, and wasn't overly predictable.

There's certainly enough action to keep the guys interested, with enough story to keep us gals entertained. And plenty of laughs for everyone.

I almost started off hating this movie before I had seen it; I thought the trailer looked like crap, with horrible comedic dialog and premises, but I took the chance on free screening tickets, figuring I could make fun at worst. The film opens with shooting at the hip action and stays pretty entertaining in comedy and delivery. Witherspoon's character's sister (Chelsea Handler) and their interactions are lots of fun. Chris Pine does a good job being semi-typecast and the movie doesn't take itself too seriously. It's way better than expected and I wouldn't have been upset had I paid full price for it. Like a review I read said, it's a romantic movie that guys won't have to be dragged to. Is it a great movie? No. Is it a fun valentines movie? Yes.

Hey, this isn't Citizen Kane. But it's funny, the actors are all good, and even though the premise is pretty silly--two secret agent types pursuing the same woman--the writers milked the possibilities about as much as they could without getting mindlessly stupid. The principals don't try to assassinate each other, merely to undermine one another's efforts, and the story works. Also, it doesn't hurt in a Rom-Com that Reese Witherspoon looks gorgeous throughout--as I suppose do Chris Pine and Tom Hardy for those more inclined in that direction--and the supporting cast is equally charming, with Chelsea Handler and Abigail Spencer especially deserving of kudos. What's not to like?

Cartoony romp has a slick surface but not much underneath. What it does have are three charming actors who work hard to buoy it with their personality and charisma. Tom Hardy and Chris Pine work well together, actually their chemistry with each other is much stronger than either share with their female co-star. Reese is ditsy and sweet but whoever was in charge of her hair should be ashamed, it looks distractingly like straw. The director's roots in music videos are painfully obvious and he does nothing to smooth out the many kinks in the borderline creepy plot. Wasted in nothing parts are Til Schweiger a good actor stuck in a standard villain part that must have been larger in the original script and Angela Bassett, a great actress in a stick figure part that is so far beneath her abilities it's a crying shame. Rosemary Harris is thankfully on hand briefly to brighten a few scenes. Silly and painless you'll forget it as soon as it's over. All involved have made better films and will again.

This Means War is the oldest tale: two men fight for the attention of a beautiful woman. However, this time, the two men in question happen to be the new Captain Kirk and the new Bane from Batman and they're vying for the affections of that chick from Legally Blonde. Unfortunately, neither man use phasers, photon torpedoes or terrorist plots to sack an entire city, but they do make for an interesting pair of combatants - namely because they're both best friends who happen to work for the CIA (incidentally, everyone in the CIA looks like a supermodel - you probably didn't know that).

This means that there are gadgets and underhand techniques aplenty in their mission to generally do each other down and stab each other in the back.

This all takes place in a strange world filled with primary colours where everything looks like the inside of a Barbie doll's house (plus in this world a girl who looks like Reece Witherspoon can't actually get a date). There are some brief battles and even a minor car chase to keep the action junkies in their zone, but, primarily, this is a love (triangle) story and, if I'm honest, it's not a bad one.

This Means War is stupid, predictable, dumb, but strangely quite endearing and I found myself even laughing out loud in some places.

I think the film could be described as a 'date movie' as it's a good one to watch with a lady. And, if I ever stop sitting on the sofa watching DVDs and take a girl out, I may just show her this film.

And, just as a side note, why do both leading men look like they're wearing lipstick? Is it just me who thought that?

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